Entropy and Time Travel

We know that time is relative to the observer in order to keep the principle, which is that light shall always travel at a constant speed. Relatively, yes, this means that travelling to the future of another observer is possible, by travelling at speeds closer to the speed of light, or by experiencing lower gravity. However, what I will deny is that travelling to the past is, according to our current understanding of physical laws, impossible, as time flows according to entropy.

Entropy might be a new concept to us. It is a measure of energy over temperature, which may define how “chaotic” the state of matter is in; the larger the entropy, the more disorderly it is. According to the second law of thermodynamics (which we sadly skipped in class), any system will tend toward higher entropy. Entropy can only increase, and there is no known way to revert a system into a more orderly state. An easy example is that you cannot un-mix a homogenous sugar solution.

That said, time itself might be called as imaginary, a method to explain this system that tend toward higher entropy. There is only now, and a span of time between events, where the direction of this time, in definition, is whichever direction the system is heading toward higher entropy. This provides a clear direction of time, as entropy cannot lower.

One may argue that time travel may not happen, for the simple reason that time is merely an illusion, a concept connected with entropy. However, by only using the current definition of time, it may not move “backward”, as a system will always increase in entropy, and thus time travel backward may not happen.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKbJ9leUNDE

http://www.johnagowan.org/tetra11.html

Inside a Black Hole

As I descend through the spiral of hot gases spiraling the black hole, and experiencing time dilation due to the immense gravity near the event horizon, those may be the last things I see. Apart from being ripped apart and thus not being able to see anything, there is also a reason why there is seemingly nothing inside black holes, which is because there is only a singularity inside a black hole.

A singularity is a mass compressed in a volume so small that it would warp space-time into a “hole” straight through; according to the way gravity works, this means that no matter may escape (apart from using the theory of Hawking radiation, in which black holes very slowly radiate away its mass). Inside the singularity, matter will be ripped apart due to this extreme warping.

Past the event horizon, it seems that physics as we know it fail. As matter becomes ripped apart, it has no way of returning outside, which is why we cannot see anything inside. Inside the singularity, I expect to see everything the black hole has ever eaten. However, at this point they are indiscernible; “perfectly featureless”. Only the mass and the state of rotation the matter had before falling would be kept inside the singularity.

Of course, as the physics itself inside the black hole may be different, the singularity might not be what physicists expect it to be. Perhaps, according to another theory, we may see a parallel universe inside, or a different point in space-time, as the black hole may have a counterpart: the white hole, which spits matter out.

Either perfectly featureless, or if there is a whole other universe inside, with our current understanding, one thing is clear. We could only theorize what the inside of a black hole look like. Certainly it is very different from what we understand as space-time.

Sources:

http://www.hawking.org.uk/into-a-black-hole.html

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/what-white-hole/

Drama Review: Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost

For my English assignment, we were told to watch Love's Labour's Lost--yes, an impossibly high level of language, which rings music to my ears. And thus, here is the review.

The hilarious performances of Longaville, Dumain, Ferdinand, and Biron

The play Love’s Labour’s Lost is an earlier work of historical comedy by the celebrated William Shakespeare, performed on stage by Shakespeare’s Globe. I saw its recording by Opus Arte, and I quite enjoyed the play for the great acting that brought out the humor, and also for the complex story of romance. The story began when the Ferdinand, the King of Navarre, made a vow with his three lords Biron, Dumain, and Longaville to study for three years, and for the time they cannot meet a woman. However, when the Princess of France arrives with her three ladies, they fall in love. The arrival of the Spaniard, Don Armado, who was also in love with another maid, caused letters to be delivered to the wrong people, thus people learned that the vows have been broken.

            A most commendable performance was done by Trystan Gravelle, who played Lord Biron. As a main character, Gravelle presented Biron in a way that made him more unique than the two other lords, and even the King himself, by speaking at a faster pace. It is said that Biron is the character who has the most wits and control over words, and Gravelle’s impeccable pacing made him more believable than others, which spoke rather dramatically, as he fits those wits better. In addition to his pacing, he also tended to put more emotion in some moments, particularly in the lines where he disagreed with Ferdinand about the oath or when arguing for his love, making him more memorable than the other lords, and perhaps overshadowing Ferdinand.

            Another great character in the play was Costard, played by Fergal McElherron. Most, if not all Shakespearean drama have a fool who keeps the play funny, and in this comedy, Costard was hilarious. McElherron was perhaps nearly shameless, where he even ‘accidentally’ kissed Constable Dull once. He tended to move more than the other players, always leaping around and performing dramatic actions like flapping his hands and pointing around like how a fool in a drama usually does, which, together with his high-pitched intonation, also made him more memorable than most other characters, perhaps being a comedic relief in an already hilarious play.

            It was not only the characters that made the play great. While the play had no directed lighting in the form of spotlights, nor background music to emphasize action, they made use of a unique feature of the theatre, the shape of the stage. It was a zig-zag to the seats which presented an interesting setting, which the actors used to the fullest, drawing people’s attention to the center, or the extremities of the stage. Meanwhile, the clothing also did well to emphasize a character when they wanted to, such as giving the King a golden cloak and making Biron looking more disheveled compared to the other lords, or actually giving them similar clothing so as to equally draw attention, like the lords at the start of the show, or them and the ladies during the party.

            In short, Love’s Labour’s Lost by Shakespeare’s Globe was presented in a very witty and hilarious manner by the actors. I have nothing but praise for this classic comedy of Shakespeare, with its magnificent wordplay and acting. I recommend this to anyone who wishes to see a light-hearted romance, while also wishing for a more complex work of literature.

Presenting: My Instagram

Yes, I hadn't been posting as often. Excuse me. It has been a while since I last posted, but I do have some excuse.

Boredom.

No, not that. Maybe not, at least.

Well, I had been busy with many projects last holiday, and one of them was, in fact, putting up my Instagram. Do check it out for my art and pictures, if you'd like:

@i.n.hartanto

Well, those projects, and games. Mostly Skyrim and Dragon Age and Bioshock.

However, now that the holiday season has thawed and I'm back as a senior, I'll be much more pressed for time. So, this site might be a bit empty, but do still expect stuff; I am not dead just yet.

Damn, that was a full-blown advert.

Sketching: Life is Strange - Partners in Time

Life is Strange - Pertners in Time
Also available in my DeviantArt.

Quick introduction for those who haven't ever heard of the game: Life is Strange, Square Enix. Episodic choose-your-own-adventure mystery with time travel. The left one is Max Caulfield, our heroine, and the right one, Chloe Price, her best friend (or, in one plot, lover).

Life is Strange. What a compelling series, what an emotional ending right in the middle of the finals I had several weeks ago. When it was all done, I did this. I still can't get over this game. Spoiler: I was too sorry for Max, which was why finally I decided to save Chloe instead of the whole town.

It was actually done before the Half-Blood Magus, but oh well, just had the time to write this up. This scene from the second episode hit me as marvelous, and I have been itching to draw that up. At first, I thought of switching around the positions to make it a little bit more original, and perhaps, interesting.

...Which was why I did a preliminary sketch. Turned out quite unnecessary in the end, as I would mostly copy by eye.

Starting with the all-important leg placement, I worked my way up Max, then started on Chloe. Linking their hands was quite a nightmare in positioning, it turned out, and to manage the proportions, Chloe's feet got moved quite some. Another ordeal considering I press down hard with HB. The paper's getting fuzzy.

After that, I thought it was time to shade. Starting from Max's top, this time. That part was quite quick and easy. I think that time I used only my HB and 2B, as my 4 and 6B were spent. 

I thought that actually, their hands weren't linked up good enough--so there I went again, redoing the top. To tell the truth, I actually think the subjects here are too small to be convenient in shading them.

But shaded them I did. Chloe also wasn't that much of a fuss to shade, apart from the detail being too small to bother. 

Perhaps it was just about inspiration and will: Life is Strange was inspiring enough so that I wanted to get these two shaded, seeing their final form as quick as possible. So, what came next wasn't done as wholeheartedly, to be very honest.

Looking back, I shouldn't have redid the linework over the shading, even with a 2B. Nor should I try to make a background in my quite lazy state--but I did it anyways.

After shading, I continued to make the background, against my better judgement. Perhaps the lack of a lumber pile next to the rails made the piece look too natural, not some rural part of Arcadia Bay.

As I foretold, the background ended up messy. I may get away with that being a personal choice, but I just wanted the piece to finish quickly. It took over five days, over around about six hours, probably. I just used my camera to take this picture and edit it, as I wanted to try comparing this with my usual scans. Only edited the contrast and touched up; no major surgeries needed.

Result? Characters good. Perhaps a little bit skewed to the right. Background's unworthy to look at, but whatever. I'll leave it to you to judge the final result.

By the way, I missed many weeks without a post. Haven't had the will to do one until now, I guess. This field of stars doesn't seem like going anywhere for me.

___

Life is Strange (C) Square Enix and Dontnod Entertainment.

Sketching: The Half-Blood Magus

The Half-Blood Magus.
Also on display in my DeviantArt.

The holidays being here, I shall continue to cook this idea in my head: a grand plan for an epic story. It is the continuation of this piece done long ago, and this guy will be the main character, the best friend of the Elf-King: the half-elf, whom I shall call Leon, as the Fall of an Empire's Leon would most likely go in indefinite hiatus. 

So, this Leon: an orphaned half-elf, who joins the Magi (I won't go into detail on that). Most could only harness magic only with staves, but this guy is one of the few who could do so without. Perhaps like Skyrim's bound weapons.

I already did some planning on the first pose, when I realized that it was quite close to the Assassin's Creed one I did before. Meanwhile, I was doing a Life is Strange piece... so this sank into hiatus. Man, I would use that word often.

Two of my references: Mannfred von Carstein for the pose. I really wanted to play that game but can't... technical reasons.

And Final Fantasy XV's Noctis. Handsome guy. Used him for the looks, naturally. Also would want to play that game, though I would doubt it, for the same technical reasons. 

Thus, back to the drawing board. Several poses planned before, and I straight off chose the one closest to Mannfred's pose.

First attempt, a bit disastrous. There was also a second try after that, however as I erased, turned out my eraser was quite dirty, and I would need a better eraser. So, a trip to the bookstore was arranged, and walked off with an eraser and 2H pencil to add to the collection.

That was more like it. Thinly sketching, then detailed it. 

Basically, that was my final sketch. Crosshatched in several places that I wanted to be darker, and I was off shading, from the usual top-to bottom with the HB and 2B. The planning and sketching took longest, where the shading only took around 2 hours from 5 to 6 hours, perhaps.

Finally, the traditional part was done. I scanned it, and tampered with the contrast and tones, and vigorously edited his face.

The result? Yeah, I'm satisfied. Halfway between manga and realism. But I'll leave it to you for opinions.

Change of Plans

School's out! 'Tis the holidays here!

...Which means I shall be deathly bored for the month, for the lack of tasks. But funny enough, however I may say it, I am still quite lazy to do any important thing, such as writing on this blog.

Point is, I'm getting tired at writing just series critics--series which not even much care about. I've decided that I've had about enough exercise in making those reviews--perhaps quite an unsuccessful attempt.But anyway, I shall fill this blog with things that I feel I truly need to write--or if I will write any, at all.

Really, I need to let my dispirited laziness shut up.

I shall be busying myself with not one, not two, but three projects along the month. One concocting a big plan about a story plus character design, one painting on canvas, and one 3D sketchup, plus about a dozen other little projects.

But please, please tell me how to tear myself away from Assasssin's Creed Rogue and Total War Shogun II and Kabaneri and Bungou and Re:Zero and... the list goes on. I'm out for now.

Sketching: Bungou Stray Dogs - Call A Name

Please, see this in my DeviantArt.

I shall simply feature this artwork here. Well, I forgot to take process pictures along the way, so this was the final product.

Bungou Stray Dogs was quite interesting, as you could tell from my reviews each week. In my boredom several weeks ago, I decided to draw these two: Atsushi and Dazai, the two most charming, fit to be drawn.

The ending song, Namae wo Yobu yo was a nice tune, and the art was just begging to be drawn. Actually, I did just copy down these references, detailed a bit here and there.

I simply moved Dazai over from the original position, made the papers in a circle, and removed villain Akutagawa from the picture.

It had been a while since I've drawn anything, and I thought that I could just practice shading here, plus composition. Used my usual from HB until 4B. As usual, HB was the most used, but 6B wasn't used at all, as the drawing was quite light.

This took around about four hours, I think. Same old-same old, with the outline first, doing Atsushi first, then Dazai, and retraced the lines for a dark outline. Then just a quick brush in Photoshop to clean up the piece from my scanner.

Not much to comment by me, here. Atsushi turned quite nice, but Dazai... a little too melancholic, perhaps. 

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 8: Getting Interesting, With Another Bomb

Right back into the fray, now, straight from last episode's dealings with a bomb. Now we shall encounter another bomb--and perhaps, we shall advance the Port Mafia story here a little bit more with episode 8 of Bungou Stray Dogs: Teach a Man To Kill, then To Die. One interesting thing now: we shall see another member of the Detectives in action. Thus, spoilers ahead, intentional or otherwise.

What an interesting way to start, all mysterious with the little girl and her "finding" Dazai. According to what he said, this might be something bad.

...But then they held off on that. Yes, some references to that, saying "Where is Dazai" and such. However, as always, they managed to turn it into a big joke. Yes, how does a man with a suicide fetish stay well and healthy?

True, the first half will be all laughs; I mean, just look at that scene. Once more I seemed to have a good long bout of laughter as Junichirou confessed that he's been "treated" by Dr. Yosano four times.

Speaking of the lady that struck fear into the hearts of the Detectives, here she is. Once more the story takes to one seemingly overused scene, where Atsushi must bring all her shopping goods. But then, what an epic way to introduce someone's other side: threatening to cut off a man's hand, who tried to threaten her. Well, woman power, I suppose. No blaming that.

And then, all of a sudden as usual, the show took on a darker tone, truer to its seinen genre, with a (or rather, yet another) bomber terrorizing the train.

And it seems that this one won't disappoint. Surely we always need another deranged physician in this story, and this time, this one is much more philosophical.

Then, I must say, I quite enjoy Atsushi's fight with the little girl, Kyouka. On one side, it was  an extremely bloody mess, no question. On the other, even from the tone of her words we could tell that Kyouka's nothing more than a brainwashed minion.

It went from just subtly emotional to philosophical with Atsushi's past being thrown back in: all the people in the train were dead or endangered because of him, and once more we see the recurring theme from when he was kicked out of his orphanage--but this time, seems he managed to find a reason to stay alive, to fight for others. Now this is character development. 

Meanwhile, Yosano. Not your regular doctor after all. It was epic, how she 'explained' about death to the guy. This one was philosophical in quite a hilarious, but touching somewhere inside.

One point to make was, yes, indeed, what a convenient ability to have, having to make them even nearer to death to heal someone. While I'm not a fan of her just spilling all her abilities, seems there's no other way around; she did nicely explain the fear around her.

And the finale? Well, once more it retained its emotion, and the presence of a character development.

Yes, it was through a big pep talk by Atsushi. And it was just dumb how he was the one that triggered the bomb. However, hearing Kyouka's voice with some kind of fear, perhaps along with hope not to kill anyone else, she jumped off the train.

...to which Atsushi jumped and saved her. Yes, he'll never let anyone die again, as per his vow.

On a side note, seeing the next episode's teaser, these two might be something. We don't know yet.

Oh, so that was where Dazai went all these time, to the lair of the Mafias.

In that case, then, nothing else to comment for this quite packed and gory episode. Now we got the little girl and Dazai missing as something to look toward to, apart from being introduced a helpful-but-mean doctor. Until next time.

Uh-oh. Forgot to press publish all those days ago. Dammit.

Jerusalem's Role in Crusades: Not That Important

1099 Siege of Jerusalem. Taken from commons.wikimedia.org

Jerusalem is a holy city for all three of the world's largest Abrahamic religions: Jews, Christianity, and Islam. This created at least nine attempts of the Christians to take over the city since the First Crusade (1096-1099); nine more major crusades. However, while being a target in many crusades, as in any other conflict, there were many more factors which trigger a war (where indeed, religion took most of the blame). As such, the role of Jerusalem in these crusades are still debatable; to say that the crusades were called only to retake Jerusalem and the Holy Land is quite limited.

The applicable definition of a crusade here comes from the Plurals of said debate, which state that the most important part of a crusade is the spiritual one, and not the retaking of Jerusalem. The crusades were a pilgrimage, but the very definition of a "pilgrimage" has become twisted by the Crusaders (Madigan, 2015). Here, Jerusalem was no longer a main goal, rather a justification of the real causes of the crusades: racism and power, both taken in the cover of a pilgrimage by those days' Christians.

The first main cause of the crusades is, without a doubt, discrimination between religions. The Christians, mainly, were aggressors to the other religions, thinking that they are the enlightened, the rightest. When Pope Urban II called for a crusade to retake Jerusalem at 1096, the built-up tension of discrimination to the East were released (Constable, 2001). It was clearly seen during the harassment to the Jews during and in between the crusades, two of the most prominent examples being the Rhineland Massacre of 1096 in the Rhineland, West Germany, and the Peoples' Crusade of 1096 in Asia Minor. Those crimes against humanity were done by fanatics who, in their desire to destroy the enemies of God, strayed from the goal of a crusade to bring "justice" to the Jews, thought as guilty in bringing Christ to the cross (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2016). 

Cultural harassment did not happen solely to Jews. The fanatical beliefs of Christianity then were also shown to the Muslims. The Muslims (and also Jews) of Jerusalem were treated much harsher than how they treat Christian prisoners (History World, n.d.) Certainly, none of these harassments have any contribution to the goal to retake the Holy Land, and were only the results of the discrimination that made up the burning spirit of the crusaders, the main cause that kept the war ongoing.

The next important factor that started the holy wars were, like other wars, political reasons. The Byzantine Empire asking for help was a great chance for Pope Urban II to bring together the fragmented feudal world of Europe, against a common enemy. The crusaders, most notably the nobles, were enticed to the call to search for new lands and more recognition, in short more power an influence (Runciman, 1995). 

While Jerusalem itself was made as a Crusader State, the crusaders did not limit their search for land just near Jerusalem and the Holy Land. This was most notably seen in the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) which, due to political reasons, strayed from the Holy Land to take Constantinople, leading to the Latin Empire. This proves that they were merely searching for land and power, and the Holy Land is but one land available to be taken then.

In the end, Jerusalem was made as a target for war merely as a justification. The Just War concept was already accepted that time, which mainly states that a war must only be called if and only if other, more peaceful and humane methods to achieve a morally right goal have been exhausted. The discrimination to other religions were certainly not a morally correct goal, nor was the forceful takeover of land and power. Thus, Jerusalem and its surrounding lands, as an important holy city was actually not the main goal of the crusades, but rather merely a front for the many different factors that started the war.

References - Further reading

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. (2016). The Crusades. Retrieved from Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/crusades.html

Bugnion, F. (2004, Oktober 28). Jus ad Bellum, Jus in Bello, and Non-International Armed Conflicts. Retrieved from International Comittee of the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/

Constable, G. (2001). The Historiography of the Crusades. The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World, 1-22.

History World. (n.d.). The Crusades. Retrieved from Historyworld website: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?ParagraphID=fob

Madigan, K. (2015). Medieval Christianity: A New History. New Haven: Yale University.

Runciman, S. (1995). A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade. Melbourne: University of Cambridge.

___

This was the final essay for this year's World History class. Translated and edited from Indonesian. This is a response paper, and by no means have been thoroughly studied and accepted as a fact; thus all debates and comments are welcome.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - Episode 7: Down Time

I was hoping for something big again this week. Big shame, it didn't happen. Perhaps it needed a cooldown from the last encounter with the huge Shadow. This episode seven of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Begging the Heavens, did open up some new facts about Mumei--who seems to be getting all the attention nowadays. Spoilers ahead.

IF there are heavy spoilers here. For the first part, largely there were just some separate stories.

Quite interesting to see them involved in a rather relaxed training session (compared to the one with Mumei all those episodes ago). Nothing much to comment here.

And finally, they arrived at somewhere not overran by kabane. The story will get repetitive otherwise. One other thing that did broke the repetition was him being slapped with a sword by Kurusu.

The moment they arrived at the station, when they all decided that they will celebrate a festival, we should know that this was going to be a relaxed, perhaps filler episode.

What are these scenes doing here? Yes, they show their humanity, but like in Grimgar, excessive use of these scenes just remove us from all the action.

At the very least, there were still something going on when Ikoma and Takumi were looking for supplies. Teaching a thing about behaving to a soldier was, sadly, painfully relatable. However, as a kabaneri, Ikoma did have no big deal on facing him.

At least, they managed to stuff in a little irony that he used Kurusu's move at the beginning.

Perhaps this next scene was only for the sake for a tie-in to the first train accident at the beginning. This was, at the very least, a moving moment, when Sukari told the kid that his father was dead, telling him that basically he needs to face his problems and live. Perhaps that was the whole theme of the show.

And what do we have here. Kurusu actually blushing after overlooking Ayame snacking. Seriously, this was, while does indeed deserve a laugh, still just a mere filler.

Afterward, they struck a deal with the lord of the station, who seem to be too willing to give them hospitality.

Meanwhile, the old man that was with Mumei two episodes ago seemed to be some kind of a scout for some group called the Hunters, who shall be approaching soon.

Now, both of these led to me wanting some kind of a political tension or maneuvering, at least something complicated with the higher-ups. However, due to Kabaneri's theme, I am more inclined to believe that they won't be stepping into that realm.

The same sunset, it seems Mumei has retreated to a shrine, to where Ikoma followed her.

Apparently, Mumei was suddenly reminded, in the event of this festival, that she was once called Hodzumi, meaning "Rice Fields" according to Ikoma, by her parents, until her brother removed that name, literally.

This was new; turned out she had a name. A truly sad story, how her brother stripped her name and made her believe that she needs to be the strongest to survive. In the end, Ikoma, true to his oath to protect, vowed again, to cure Mumei and drive the Kabaneri out of the fields--so she could eat rice. Now that was touching.

By the way, nice sunset lighting.

That night, during the festival, Ikoma declared his wish to eliminate all the kabane. As suspected, the pep-talk encouraged other people to dream big... while Mumei expressed her desire to eat rice. Well, a personal goal is much better than being a pointless killing machine just to survive. Here, I would say, they've also managed to motivate our lives, even for a bit.

The next day, the Hunters arrive. Leading them was the son of the Shogun.

Who Mumei runs to and calls Brother.

Oh, perhaps that shall be some political drama right there. Or, at the very least, a battle of ideologies. Ikoma not-so-subtly thought that he needed to find out whether Biba, the brother, was truly a hero. So it seems that this peaceful episode hid more secrets than we thought, after all. Secrets that shall unravel starting next week. Hopefully with more fighting.

Koutetsujou no Kabaneri - Episode 6: Retaking Ground

A cliffhanger in the last episode sure made us wait what shall become of Mumei. In this episode 6, Gathering Light, we start where we left off, and find some way to kill the big black shadow, with the usual action--plus we'll hear more of what made Mumei tick. Spoilers, then, intentional or otherwise.

It all started with another flashback. It seems her past wasn't too different from Ikoma, after all. She's got pretty much the same backstory, with the added drama that she must remain strong or be thrown away. It does make the two even closer on one side, but does seem a bit recycled, at least for now.

The despair in this scene was blatantly obvious, and only quelled by Ikoma calming Mumei by answering her questions with his own thoughts: equally hating himself for getting them in this situation, but a little more hopeful. The questions asked by Mumei and Ikoma's responses were very philosophical (although, once again, a little overused). Really, the connection between these characters could just go up from here on.

However, here, I have no idea why did Ikoma have flashbacks of Mumei's life while he was fighting. That said, the show seems to give us a new mystery: who was the man that saved her?

Anyway, the fight scenes were nothing too flashy apart from Ikoma tearing up a horde.

Yes, the usual pep talk that made people realize their mistakes. It seems Mumei quickly snapped out of the state she's been in only for just the past episode, by apologizing to the kid that lost his dog.

Intetresting, the people has gone from liking kabaneri to not to liking them again, in just about three episodes. Perhaps that was indeed what truly happened.

Kurusu is back, and now he could slash kabane like nothing. Finally, they could all work together defending the train from the kabane bursting away from the shadow, which was quite an interesting (albeit quite gruesome) twist.

But, as the last few episodes has become, Mumei still took the spotlight by being the one to pierce the big thing's heart. Apart from that, it still manage to make it a tense moment, when Takumi needed to judge the right time to fire their new cannon so she could leap in.

One fault, though: she said, "wait until it closes in," NOT "when it's above us." Oh, one more thing: where did the cannon come from?

Actually, not too many things happened in this episode, though one thing to know is that now we know what happened in Mumei's past. But even the last part was nothing of note, just keeping the train from derailing. 

So, while they did use some overused plot, somehow Kabaneri still manages to captivate... now, with them out of the infested station, what shall happen next week (or, in 5 days)?